Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Edi Gathegi: A Step Away From the Usual

Today has been pretty good in the Twilight universe news wise. There have been no mentions of Michael Copon. The Vanessa Hudgens rumor is pretty much dispelled. Taylor Lautner's face appeared EVERYWHERE today, and the fangirl in me squealed and belted out in song.

So I decided that instead of a passionate rant, I'd take a nice walk down discussion road. I figured I'd talk about Edi Gathegi. If you don't know who he is, WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN? He played Laurent.

See the sexy man with the dreads? I bet for those that didn't know, you're all going Oooooooooooooooooooooh! now, huh?

Well, I have to admit that I just went through that exact kind of moment. I was looking for a great still of Edi as Laurent on Google and came up with pictures of the television show House. I skipped over them, but thought WHAT THE HELL? all the same. Why was House coming up when I was searching for Edi Gathegi?

And then I saw this picture:

Oh, duh. He was the single father guy! Now, I'm not a big House fan. My mom loves the show, but she watches it so much that whenever she gets control of the TV, the first thought that comes to mind is, "Oh no..." But I liked the single dad guy. I did. And I really like Edi Gathegi. How did I not make the connection?

Because I'm ridiculously unobservant. That's how.

I think Jodeen will agree with me on this one. Because I'm an incredibly uninformed white chick, I never expected Laurent to be black. (I never thought of Eric Yorkie as being Asian, either, but...) So when I first saw Edi cast for the role, I was kind of shocked. Not disappointed. No. I had just never expected it. And to see him with the dreads... Wow. But the funny thing was, it worked. It TOTALLY fit Laurent's personality, and that was so awesome.

Hands down, my favorite character is Jacob Black. Likewise, my favorite cast member would be Taylor Lautner. Shocker, huh? But the performance I enjoyed the most was Edi's.

That's not to say that there were performances I didn't enjoy. Despite the radical rants you'll find on here, I'm a rather easy person to please. I loved Peter's take on Carlisle. We didn't get the pleasure of hearing Dr. Cullen's amazing background (that makes me cry every time I read it), but you could tell from Peter's performance that Carlisle was a very caring, loving, exemplary individual. Billy Burke did an amazing job as Charlie. Those awkward daughter-father moments were the best, and I loved how he played out the Charlie-Billy friendship. Jackson Rathbone's constant look of pain was hilarious and pitiful -- in the best of ways, of course. I wanted to reach through the screen and HUG him.

But it was Edi Gathegi as Laurent that felt the most natural.

Now, when I sit down to watch a movie, I can't just let myself enjoy it. No, that would be too easily. I unconsciously start picking up on little things; it's usually how natural a performance feels or doesn't feel.

All of the actors/actresses in Twilight did a great job. I'm not saying that any of them did poorly. However, there were times that most of them felt like they were just acting. And that's not a bad thing, really. I mean, how many cheesy classic films don't sound the least bit natural but are still enjoyable? A lot. And Twilight's acting was better than most of them combined.

But I really felt like Edi had tapped into his character. I really felt like he was speaking not as himself, but as Laurent: Nomad that's not evil, just hungry. I think part of it was that accent. *Fans self* Whew.

Edi is just as enjoyable off-screen as he is on. I'm horribly addicted to watching Taylor Lautner interviews, and it seems that Edi, Rachelle, and Taylor get paired up a lot. Case in point: this one, this one (my favorite), and this one (beware: lots of screaming). Even though I always start off by watching Taylor (obsessively), Edi always manages to catch my interest.

I think that is why I ultimately adore this man. He is just so fun. He's constantly jumping on Taylor. He's not afraid to belt out to Miley Cyrus. He even jokes about sucking your blood. This guy is hilarious, and I can't wait to see more of his work.

Speaking of Edi's future projects, My Bloody Valentine is his next movie. The synopsis reads, "Tom (Ackles) returns to his hometown on the tenth anniversary of the Valentine's night massacre that claimed the lives of 22 people. Instead of a homecoming, however, Tom finds himself suspected of committing the murders, and it seems like his old flame (King) is the only one will believes he's innocent." Edi Gathegi plays Deputy Martin.

A clip from My Bloody Valentine

Now, I'm not a big horror fan, and anything with the word bloody in it sounds a little too gruesome for me, but I might go watch it for Edi. Well, and Jensen Ackles, who plays the lead, but Edi has definitely got my heart right now. In a non-horror movie way.